Stories from Siem Reap: Part 1

Hi everyone! I'm back from my meditation retreat on Doi Suthep and ready to tell you about Cambodia. Okay, so on Wednesday the 16th we took a bus to the airport in Hong Kong, then flew to Bangkok, took a taxi from the airport to the bus station, took a bus to the border, crossed the border on foot after procuring our visas, took a taxi to Siem Reap, and then a tuk tuk to our hotel. Phew! It was a long day but we survived. And we can say we've been in three different countries in one day! Also, I don't know if I've explained what a tuk tuk is before but it is basically a motorbike with a sort of open-air carriage attached. In Cambodia, it can seat up to four people comfortably, in Thailand, maybe more around three. This is comfortably, mind you, as most forms of public transportation in SE Asia have been known to "economize" and cram as many willing passengers on as physically possible. Here's a picture of the roundabout near our hotel, surprisingly busy for a town on the smaller side.

Okay, so we took it easy our first day in Siem Reap, relying on a Cambodian friend of ours to recommend the non-temple-centered itinerary via Facebook. Siem Reap is such a popular tourist destination because it is so close to the famed temple complex known collectively as Angkor Wat. However, we knew that seeing Angkor Wat would be an all-day affair and we wanted to rest up before attempting it. We headed instead to the Angkor National Museum, which housed countless sandstone statues from the temples and gave some great background into ancient Cambodian history so we could appreciate the temples in context. It was a beautiful but hot day, and we were glad to bask in the air-conditioning of the really nice museum.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the museum, so here is snapshot of the road median we passed walking to and from the main part of town. Walking from place to place was a bit of an adventure, as the sidewalks are more often than not used as parking lost for motorbikes, venues for food carts, or are simply non-existent. Also, the tuk tuk drivers are very in-tune with the needs of the tourists and had a tendency to hound us for business. A polite "no, thank you" usually did the trick, but you had to hand it to some of them for their persistence. 

After the museum we went to the Old Market to check out the wares in the maze-like shade of many stalls up against one another. It was a bit overwhelming with all the shopkeepers urging us to buy something, but a good experience nonetheless. After a break back at the hotel and some dinner in our bellies, we ventured over to the Angkor Night Market. There were several night markets on the map of Siem Reap, but this was supposed to be the original and the best.

I found it to be really pleasant, wandering down the gravel paths admiring the colorful wares and stumbling on the occasional outdoor bar or Khmer massage business. Khmer is the main ethnic group of Cambodia, by the way. It wasn't so big that we couldn't cover just about all of it in an hour or so. We turned in on the early side because our pre-arranged tuk tuk driver was going to pick us up at eight o'clock the next morning. He originally proposed five o'clock, which we quickly declined. Many tourists like to see the temples at sunrise, but we were confident they would be splendid enough without us having to wake up quite that early. That's a story for the next post, though - stay tuned!